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Welcome to Gettinglost.ca! In this website, we hope to provide easily accessible scientific information on human navigation and orientation. Specifically, we hope to increase general awareness of Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD), a newly-discovered condition in which individuals get lost in very familiar environments, throughout their whole lives, without any brain damage or other cognitive disorders.

Gettinglost.ca is managed by NeuroLab, a cognitive neuroscience research laboratory at the University of Calgary directed by Dr. Giuseppe Iaria. We perform psychological studies in real and virtual environments, with the goal of understating how people make sense of their surroundings, and how the brain is responsible for this ability. Additionally, we want to gain a richer understanding of DTD, by observing behaviour, as well as the structure and function of the brain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and characterize the cause of this disorder. Following this, we want to help rehabilitate people that get lost easily, including people with DTD, the elderly, and individuals with acquired brain injuries or other neurological conditions. By using strategic interventions embedded in video games and real environments, we want to help people improve their ability to understand and navigate throughout their environment. Finally, we also investigate the spatial abilities of children at different stages of development, with the goal of understanding exactly how spatial abilities develop in children. This information would allow us to develop a diagnostic tool for children who may have a spatial learning disability.

If you have concerns about your spatial orientation abilities, you can contact Dr. Giuseppe Iaria at iaria@neurolab.ca

What we provide on this website

A forum for individuals to discuss their personal experiences with orientation, as well as relevant scientific research. Specifically, we want to facilitate discussion between individuals suffering from orientation difficulties, including DTD.

A (forthcoming) section with simple explanations of scientific research. We believe that knowledge generated from scientific research should be easily accessible to the public.